Good gifts and a prepared path ahead

Psalm 85 is a communal prayer that looks for restoration after a season of trouble. Earlier lines recall past help and ask for renewed favor, then shift into listening for what Yahweh will say (vv. 1–11). Verses 12–13 close the psalm with confident imagery that answers the earlier hope: goodness will be given, the land will respond, and a “way” will be set for God’s approach. These closing lines function like a concluding assurance, tying together speech, presence, and tangible wellbeing.

The psalm sounds like it comes from a time when the community experienced setback and needed renewal—socially, economically, and perhaps agriculturally—so the “land” matters. In Israel’s world, a good harvest was not only private prosperity but a sign of public stability: fewer shortages, stronger households, and less vulnerability to outside pressures. The language is general enough that it could fit multiple periods, including the era after a national crisis when worshippers gathered to ask for restored conditions and a secure future.

Shared ground

Psalm 85:12–13 ends the psalm with confidence: Yahweh gives what is good, and that goodness shows up in the world as the land producing an increase. The closing picture adds motion and direction: “righteousness” goes ahead and a way is made ready for “his steps.” Taken together, the text links God’s giving with tangible renewal and an expected arrival rather than an accidental change (textual claims: Yahweh gives good; the land yields; righteousness goes before him; a way is prepared).

The passage also fits the psalm’s broader movement from asking for restoration to listening for God’s word and ending in assurance (literary context). The “land” language naturally connects to communal stability and daily provision in an agricultural society.

Where interpretation differs

Two questions are genuinely open from the wording:

1. Who is “him” in verse 13? Many read “him” as Yahweh, so righteousness clears a route for God’s coming presence. Others argue the line could point to a human figure (such as the community, a leader, or a royal representative), though the immediate context favors Yahweh as the main actor.

2. What is “righteousness” here? Some take it mainly as God’s own righteousness (his right, faithful action) moving ahead. Others take it mainly as a condition among the people (justice, right order) that precedes restoration. Either way, the verse presents righteousness as something that “goes” and “prepares,” so it functions like an active force producing readiness.

Why the disagreement exists

Verse 13 uses poetic person-language (“righteousness goes”) and a pronoun (“him”) without naming its referent. Also, “righteousness” can mean both God’s character expressed in action and a right order in human life, and the psalm blends divine action with public wellbeing.

What this passage clearly contributes

Explicitly, the text contributes a closing assurance that God’s good giving results in real, material flourishing (“the land will yield its increase”), and it portrays the restoration as ordered and prepared (“a way…for his steps”) rather than chaotic. By placing “righteousness” at the front of the scene, it also ties hope for renewal to what is right and faithful—not merely to improved circumstances. For a nearby parallel of “preparing a way,” compare Isaiah 40:3.